You could argue that these are increasingly mature times for artists, where delicate prowess and tight production take priority over the frantic kineticism of a decade past. Ash & Ice perfectly reflects this current atmosphere, in both its strengths and weaknesses. It’s a different beast to earlier Kills albums like Midnight Boom; the same fuzzy guitar licks and punchy attitude are still there, but there’s also a level of refined sophistication.
The title acts as a monument to the creative duality of Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince. They’ve forged a career by seamlessly integrating their different influences, and this album is the most blatant expression of that connection. The fusion of a bubbly drum machine with crunchy neo-western guitar licks should sound confronting and experimental at best, but here it effortlessly strums along buoyed by the confidence of a band that realises the virtue of subtlety.
Where Bitter Fruit almost falls on the classic-rock side of the spectrum, Days Of Why And How whisks straight back to a contemporary indie pop feel. Siberian Nights struts along on smoky hooks with sexy abandon, before That Love presents a dichotomy of gentle piano and gut-punching lyrical honesty. Hard Habit To Break is the evolution of earlier tracks like Cheap And Cheerful: at once stylistically antithetic, yet born from the same unyielding power. They’ve grown from creators of psychotic teenage anthems into wielders of tasteful electropop, but the machine gun bursts of guitar solo remind us that they haven’t forgotten their wilder years.
Mosshart’s vocals are just as powerful and passionate as ever, but there’s an air of melancholy that swaps aggressive energy for emotional gravity. Hum For Your Buzz is a bluesy Jack White-esque ballad where her voice bleeds a beauty both uncompromising and surprisingly sweet.
Overall, Ash & Ice feels like a natural progression for The Kills: minimalist, as always, but polished.
BY JACOB COLLIVER
